March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Truworths International Ltd. led a
decline in South Africa’s consumer stocks, which fell the most
in a month as spending contracted for the first time since 2009.

The FTSE/JSE Africa General Retailers Index dropped as much
as 2.6 percent, the biggest intraday fall since Feb. 14, and
traded 1.4 percent lower at 62,886.01 at 4:18 p.m. in
Johannesburg.

Truworths, South Africa’s biggest clothing retailer by
market value, declined 2.6 percent. Mr Price Group Ltd., a
clothing and furniture chain, fell 1 percent. Both have declined
about 15 percent in the year to date. Lewis Group Ltd., a
furniture and appliance retailer, sank 0.3 percent.

Gross domestic demand fell an annualized 0.9 percent in the
final three months of 2012, the first fall since 2009, compared
with an expansion of 4.1 percent in the previous three months,
the Reserve Bank said in its Quarterly Bulletin released in
Pretoria today.

Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for about 60
percent of total spending in the economy, slowed to an
annualized 2.4 percent in the final three months of last year
from 2.7 percent in the third quarter, the bank said.

“Household consumption expenditure continued to be
constrained by slower growth in disposable income of households
and rising inflation,” the bank said.